Trent Barnes put himself on the radar with a victory in the Southeast Limited Late Model Series (SELLM) Challenger race at Myrtle Beach Speedway last November. Now, he’s making the move up to Late Model Stock Cars as he will be racing for Scott Whitaker and J&J Motorsports in the Championship Auto Racing Series (CARS) Late Model Stock Tour.
Along with his victory in the 50-lap SELLM Challenger race at Myrtle Beach Speedway, Barnes has been competing at Hickory Motor Speedway in the Limited Late Model division. The 14-year-old from Whiteford, Maryland knows that the move to Late Model Stock Cars and a run in the CARS Tour will be much
“My goal is just to gain knowledge from the tracks,” Barnes said. “We’d like to go out there and score some top-five finishes and top-10 finishes. We’re definitely going to try to win races. It’s a lot more competition.”
Like most of the drivers running in the CARS Tour, Barnes says he is impressed with the level of competition and hopes to learn a lot as he climbs the racing ladder in hopes of one day running in NASCAR.
“I thought it was going to be really good because I saw the drivers that signed up. Going to have a lot more competition and it’s going to be better.”
Barnes considered his victory at Myrtle Beach to be a confidence booster and a learning experience.
“That was definitely a confidence booster. It allowed me to gain more knowledge about leading races and winning races. I also learned I’ve just got to pace myself a lot more and go too hard at the beginning.”
In between the CARS Tour races, Barnes will run other races – likely at Hickory Motor Speedway. He says he’s looking forward to the races at Southern National Motorpsorts Park and Myrtle Beach Speedway the most. At this time, he’s not sure if he will race at Martinsville Speedway in the Valley Star Credit Union 300, saying that all depends on how things go in the CARS Tour.
